First Things First ~ You will be taking notes Take out a sheet of paper Take out a pencil

Elements of a Short Story There are 7 elements of a short story. * Character(s) * Setting * Conflict * Plot * Resolution * Tone/Mood * Point of View

Character(s) Is or are “one of the persons of a drama or novel” (

Setting ~ Is… “a: the time, place, and circumstances in which something occurs or develops b: the time and place of the action of a literary, dramatic, or cinematic work” (

Conflict ~ Is “the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction” (

Plot ~ Is “the plan or main story (as of a movie or literary work)” (

Resolution Is “the point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out” (

Tone/Mood Tone is the “style or manner of expression in speaking or writing.” Mood is “the expression of mood especially in art or literature” (

Point of View Is “a position or perspective from which something is considered or evaluated” (

Active Reading Strategies Previewing Connections Predictions Questioning Clarification Summarizing

Active Reading Strategy # 1 Previewing * Involves “reviewing titles, section headings, and photo captions to get a sense of the structure and content of a reading selection” (

Active Reading Strategy # 2 Connections * Text-to-Self connections are highly personal connections that a reader makes between a piece of reading material and the reader’s own life experience. * A Text-to-Text connection is made when readers are reminded of things that they have read; such as other books by the same author, stories from a similar genre, or perhaps on the same topic. * A Text-to-World connection is the larger connection that a reader brings to a reading situation; such as the ideas a reader gets from television, movies, magazines, and newspapers. (

Active Reading Strategy # 3 Predictions *Allows one to “use knowledge of the subject matter to make predictions about content and vocabulary and check comprehension; use knowledge of the text type and purpose to make predictions about discourse structure; use knowledge about the author to make predictions about writing style, vocabulary, and content” ( atread.htm) atread.htm

Active Reading Strategy # 4 Questioning * Helps answer why and how questions throughout a story. Examples: Text-to-Self Question: Has something like this ever happened to me? Text-to-Text Question: What does this remind me of in another book I’ve read? Text-to-World Question: How is this text similar to the things that happen around me? (

Active Reading Strategy # 5 Clarification * Clearing up of confusing points in the text * Discussing unknown terms * Asking questions

Active Reading Strategy # 6 Summarizing * Is the action of “taking larger selections of text and reducing them to their bare essentials: the gist, the key ideas, the main points that are worth noting and remembering” (

Genres Fiction/Realistic Fiction Non-Fiction Biography Autobiography Fantasy Science Fiction

Fiction/Realistic Fiction Fiction * “Something invented by the imagination” ( Realistic Fiction *“Consists of stories that tell about situations occurring in the real world. There can be no magic or fantasy involved in the plot, although there may be very unusual events occurring or even exaggerated characters. The events in the story do not truly happen, but they could” (

Non-Fiction “Written works intended to give facts, or true accounts of real things and events” (

Biography “A usually written history of a person’s life” (

Autobiography “The biography of a person narrated by himself or herself” (

Fantasy “The free play of creative imagination” (

Science Fiction “Fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals or having a scientific factor as an essential orienting component” (